To date, the generation, manipulation and modification of video and audio signals is now very complex. Such processing of the video and audio signals is almost exclusively effected using dedicated hardware and/or in connection with a computer system. In either case, such processing requires a hard disc drive, input mediums such as from cameras or musical instruments or synthesisers, output mediums such as speakers and screens or graphical user interfaces (GUI) and control mediums such as a computer keyboard, mouse, joystick or rollerballs. The hard disc drive contains system programs for operating the various hardware and software.
Primarily the user interacts with the hardware and software to generate, manipulate and modify signals using the graphical user interface (GUI). Typically, the GUI includes windows, icons and menus both pull down and pop up as well as for displaying data and in particular with audio and/or video signals, the data is displayed in a 2-dimensional graphic manner.
Audio and/or video signals are often defined by various components. In an audio signal, such components may comprise different instruments or sound generations or frequency ranges. Manipulation of the signals involves varying one component in relation to the other components. When using a GUI, each component may be displayed on a separate axis. This results in a plurality of axes.
Due to the large number of components, there are typically a large number of axes which consume a large amount of space on the GUI. To accommodate for a plurality of such axes, it has been proposed to reduce each in size. When the axes have the same variables used on the ordinate and abscissa, then the axes can be displayed with one axis which is in line. An example of which is shown in FIG. 1. However it is difficult for the user to compare the data between the various axes and only a limited number of axes can be displayed at the same time.